Wednesday, April 25, 2007

On my way to work, I heard a ad on the radio for a new PetSmart location in my area. "For all you pet parents..." Ugh!! I knew I had to blog about that. Then, it got worse. A high school friend who just got married posted some pictures on Facebook. 31 different pictures of the dog that she and her new husband just got. Babies don't even get that much attention! It's sick!!!

Why are slobbery, shedding, smelly DOGS the new baby? And, why on earth do they now have health insurance for pets? There was a heart-throbbing-- or should I say gut-wrenching-- article in Parade Magazine in the newspaper on Sunday about the expense of heath care for pets. My goodness. It's a dog!

When I grow up, I want 31 children, not 31 pictures of a dog. Seriously, who could you be more proud of-- a child that will learn to be potty trained or a pet that you have to be popper scooper for for the next 15 years.. 3 times a day? Would you rather a child who could bring home a proud report card or a dog that will chew your couch to pieces when you're at work for the day? Would you rather have a child who can grow to genuinely love and admire you or a dog that doesn't even know you're speaking English to it?

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

On Good Friday, a group of pro-life activists in the Philadelphia area gathered at the Warminster Planned Parenthood for a rescue. The rescue was successful in saving at least 2 lives. The clinic was shut for at least an hour. Planned Parenthood studies have shown that 80% of women who miss their first appointment for an abortion do not return. So, that means there could be many more lives saved this morning.

Monday, March 5, 2007

Just when you thought things couldn't get worse, now FOX news is in bed with the Planned Parenthood. Surprised? Ha! Their new campaign "Pause" promotes the not-so-safe sex agenda telling teens to "pause" and decide whether they want to be sexually involved.

At first glance, this website seems like it could be effective in encouraging teens to consider the long-term side effects of sexual activity, and they even say so: "Consider how your relationships reflect and influence who you are and how you feel." Not so bad. One should always consider the effects of an action. And in thinking about sex, you should consider whether it's love or use, the likelihood of getting STDs or a crisis pregnancy, how it feels to be used or get your heart broken, whether you are married and ready for a family, if you'd like to deal with the aftermath and regret of an abortion, and so on. But, those realities are not what the Pause campaign is all about.

The next thing that they ask you to pause and think about is not sexual self control and respect for the other, BUT "Choose a place that's relaxed and comfortable before you get intimate (that means before you take your clothes off!)." After that, they begin to stress the importance of talking about sex with your partner before doing it. PAUSE! If you are already "relaxed and comfortable" in the heat of the moment, that's not the time to decide whether you want to have sex or not. That's the time when clothes start flying, and you're NOT going to be stopping to discuss things like a crisis pregnancy, whether you actually love or even care for the person, or what STDs the other and yourself are carrying.

"Protection." That's the next piece of advice. If sex is so great, why do we need to be protected from it? Well, if we really want to be protected, we need to know whether the products they're offering us (condoms and Pills) are going to work. Let's look at the condom first. We like to call it a condumb-- a CON-job for DUMB people. In preventing pregnancy, it only has a 86% success rate. That means with typical use, one out of seven couples can expect a pregnancy within a year. That doesn't sound so safe and protected from a crisis pregnancy. (By the way, a child is always the GOOD thing that comes from a sexual relationship, not a threat or a enemy.)

Furthermore, the CDC has shown that there is no evidence that condoms provide any protection from six of the top eight STDs including HPV, Chlamydia and Herpes, which happen to be the top 3 STDs in the world. That doesn't sound like protection to me. That sounds like a conspiracy.

Is Pause willing to tell this truth? No, on the other hand, they say "No condom, no sex" should be the battle cry of anyone who wants to have "vaginal or anal sex."

The Pill. Singlehandedly, this little drug has lead to the demise of women's health and the objectification of women by making us women sexually available to the guys whenever they want their kicks with us. The list of side effects is so long it's almost laughable: heart attack, liver problems, dizziness, dry eyes, depression, and weight gain, to name a few. Most significantly among them is the increased risk in breast cancer.

Study after study shows that this Pill is a carcinogenic, yet society continues to shove it down women's throats. That's just sick.

Furthermore, the Pill treats women like we are naturally diseased because of our ability to conceive and bear a child, as if that's a curse to our womanhood. Isn't it ironic that there is no Pill for a man to take? No, women are the ones whose bodies are seen as so bad in society.

Well, let's look more at the Pause website. They constantly stress the importance of "talking about sex" in order to make you ready to do it. But, their advice hardly adds up.

"Talking about sex can help build trust and respect between you and your partner." Nevermind marriage and commitment, just talk about having sex together, FOX news tells teens. Will that help teens to know how to build lasting relationships that will make them truly happy in the long run? No, not really. If teens begin to think the only reason to communicate is to "establish sexual boundaries together," then they are not going to know how to truly love one another.

There's more bad news where that came from, but I'm sick of ranting. Let's start a counter cultural message, like, say CHASTITY! Now, that's a message that is really about respect for yourself and others as well as health in your body, soul, mind and relationships.

Monday, February 5, 2007

I heard on NPR news on the morning of the Superbowl that more people pay attention to the commercials during the Superbowl than to the football, and therefore a :30 spot of advertising space had a hefty price tag of $2.7 million during the game. Not only is that an absolutely absurd amount of money, but I also learned something valuable from the commercials: they gave me a great list of companies not to patronize. In fact, most of the ads were absolutely absurd and offensive.

The first obnoxious commercial I saw was for Sierra Mist. There were actually two stupid commercials in the first commercial break. That's over $5 million flushed down the toilet, but that's about how valuable the ads were anyhow. The first one was especially disturbing with the man in his daisy duke shorts and disrespectful attitude toward his boss—mirroring they lack of respect in our society toward any authority.

I forget what commercial had people slapping each other as a sign of endearment. Are we serious? We joke about being abusive to one another, and then we wonder why people abuse one another. O, brother!

The Doritos commercials were clever, but not clean. All I remember about them was being disappointed.

In addition to making nasty tasting beer, Bud Light also featured nasty ads. The commercial with the men on the highway with an ax and a chainsaw offended me because the boyfriend took no heed to his girlfriends concerns, but he was only obsessed with getting beer. Is that what we really expect from men? Is that how we are supposed to challenge our young men to respect women?

GoDaddy.com is famous for vile marketing tactics, and the Superbowl was nothing new for them. Their "Marketing Dept" commercials featured an orgy of alcohol and scantily clad women. Did I really need to see that? No, on the other hand, I made the men in the room look the other way during these vile shows of sin.

Snickers featured the same long-haired blond guy as the Sierra Mist commercials. In this commercial, he was eating a candy bar with another man, and it appeared as if they were making out. How about a subtle hint for the gay agenda for a family TV program? Well, for kids in public schools, they've seen it already in the sex ed programs, I suppose. No innocence for them any longer.

Comcast cable and internet with the turtle couple has been offending me for some time because the husband turtle is so disrespectful of his wife. He is bossy and disinterested. Is that what we really think of marriage and commitment, that it's an imposition? Well, actually…

The previews for shows such as "Rules of Engagement" and "CSI: New York" also contained offensive plots or images (how about those pole dancers?) that are simply not appropriate for family audiences (or any audience, really).

Most of all, I was incredibly disappointed with the Chevy commercials. Of all of them, that's who's going to hear about it from me this week. I've been a Chevy girl my whole life. My first car was an El Camino, and my second car was a Celebrity. My dream car my entire life has been a Corvette, and I now drive a Buick. Chevy has come out with some really nice looking cars lately, and I really like the dependability and functionality of GM vehicles.

But, here we have them selling out as all companies have been to the "sex sells" agenda that's sweeping our nation like the plague. The HHR commercial with the girls stopped at a light and the tag line "Men can't keep their hands off it" or something like that featured men of all ages stripping and dancing like hookers all over their car. It was gross! But, it also shows how twisted our culture is. We constantly put naked women on the screen showing off their airbrushed bodies. Now, we have men in their not so perfect bodies behaving like animals because of they are being turned on by the "hot" looks of some vehicle.

Sadly, I also noticed just how many commercials featured talking animals. As a society, we treat animals as higher than men and men as merely animalistic. How twisted we have become!

In addition to the offensive commercials, the halftime show was a disgrace. Who were those two women dancing on stage with Prince? Were they hired off the street? Their outfits were kind-of disgusting.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. There were many other offensive ads this year, just as in years past. The American Decency Association tracks offensive TV commercials and the programs they advertise on in order to encourage family values supporters to boycott. I encourage you to visit their website for more ideas.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Since living in Philadelphia, especially in West Philly, I have seen so many women embracing very strict Islam ideals and religion. I found an article that answers some questions-- bringing to light the ignorance of women about both Islam and Christianity as a reason for their conversion to Islam.

Saturday, January 6, 2007

As a part of the 100 hours initiative, Congress is going to introduce a bill to FUND embryonic stem cell research which is where they take a newly conceived human child about 7 days old and tear it apart, culture it, kill it and do research. This is the garbage that the satire "Brave New World" is about. It's really happening. Please call your congressman and tell him/ her NOT to allow this funding. Find your congressman at Congress.gov.